Got my hands on a 14.5 pound prime packer!

[Smoking77]

Was going to dry brine tonight and cook it Saturday. Haven't decided if I'm going to do just salt and pepper or BBBR. This will be my first time cooking a prime brisket (and only 2nd time cooking a brisket). Should I be checking for doneness earlier than if I was cooking a choice? And I was going to cook at 250 or 275. Still a good plan?

Also, this thing is way longer than my 18.5 WSM can handle (it's around 22 inches long). I've heard of people wrapping the ends with foil and then stuffing them into the grates until it shrinks. Is that a good idea? Or should I just cut a few inches off the flat and save for another day? So many questions! Thanks, everyone. I'm really excited about this.

[HawkerXP]

Congrats on finding a prime packer. Costco? That is a lot of meat! Even after trimming you should have around 12 lbs.
How many people you feeding? If your not feeding a hoard I'd go with the trim off some of the flat plan. Good luck and take us with you as you progress!

[Smoking77]

I'm in Los Angeles, and there's actually a butcher only a mile away from me. $3.60/pound for CAB prime. I know it's ridiculous, but I'm only feeding my wife and myself. There will obviously be tons of leftovers, but I wanted to see if I could get one right before I invite all the friends over.

[Greatplainsbrewer]

I've had good luck on my 18.5 WSM with brisket by arching it on the top rack. They always shrink to fit.

[kmhfive]

I'd cut the flat to fit. I'd also just use salt, pepper and maybe some garlic for the rub because that's going to be delicious! Never cooked Prime, so I couldn't tell you times.

[EdF]

You can do it! I've made a few over the years.

[GadjetGriller]

Go for it Smoking77 here is a online calculator for how much pink salt to use for what ever size meat you have. http://www.genuineideas.com/Articles...alculator.html

[Smoking77]

Ended up throwing the whole packer in there this time. But next time, pastrami!

[Smoking77]

Well, I trimmed it waaaayyy too much. Accidentally almost separated the point from the flat. In the end, I didn't cut off a portion of the flat. Will arch it like Greatplainsbrewer suggested. But the salt is on and it's ready for Saturday morning!

[kmhfive]

It will be great! Don't forget the pictures.

[Huskee]

That's how I trim mine intentionally, remove all fat between the two muscles and stop just short of actually separating them completely. Works great!

[Smoking77]

Little help here. I've only had the packer on for 2 hours at 250 degrees and the internal temp at the thickest part of the flat climbed to 162. Should I drop the temp down to 225? Or maybe keep the temp at 250 and just ride through the stall (when I hit it) without wrapping? Here's a pic of the honk-o-meat before cooking, and a pic at 5:30 am.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

[Huskee]

Let it ride. The stall should slow things down. I have them climb fast too quite often, but it should level out. I only had one actually keep cooking really quick, so it's possible but more than likely you'll be alright. What I do is wrap after the stall, at 170-180 usually. Great bark by that time plus it still speeds up the tail end of the cook and reserves some good au jus.

[Smoking77]

Thanks! It stalled at 170. Been hanging there for 1.5 hours or so.

[Huskee]

Thanks! It stalled at 170. Been hanging there for 1.5 hours or so.

I think you're in great shape. A higher cooking temp is probably why it stalled higher.

[Smoking77]

Let it ride. The stall should slow things down. I have them climb fast too quite often, but it should level out. I only had one actually keep cooking really quick, so it's possible but more than likely you'll be alright. What I do is wrap after the stall, at 170-180 usually. Great bark by that time plus it still speeds up the tail end of the cook and reserves some good au jus.

I know there are a lot of contributing factors, but if I wrap after the stall, about how long will it take to get up to 200 degrees? And how long after the stall if I don't wrap? Just trying to figure out my day here. Thanks.

[Huskee]

When I wrap at 170-180 it seems about 2 hrs, give or take. Wrapping higher you could be looking at 1hr. Going unwrapped it might take 2, 3 or 4 depending on when it actually comes out of the stall, hard to say.

My circumstances may vary a bit from yours, but I usually plan on a 240 deg cook (w/ variances) and about 7-8hrs until it comes out of the stall and gets wrapped, another 2-3 wrapped, and another 2hrs in either a faux cambro or on my smoker with a dropped temp to ~180 to mimic a faux cambro. A total of usually 12hrs from fridge to fork.

[Smoking77]

Thanks Huskee for all the input. I'll get back to you all in a few hours, hopefully with decent pics!

[Iron Bulldog]

Also remember you have a prime cut, less fat equals done earlier to IT because more lean will get you to probe tender quicker at least in my expierience from last weekend when i cooked a prime packer for daughter's graduation party. when she hit 195 she went in the faux cambro. Perfect pull on the snap test and everybody raved about it, served in slices not pulled.

[Smoking77]

So, my final product was... okay. My wife and I thought the flat was pretty dry (and we ate off the middle of the brisket, not the end). But everything had decent flavor, so that's a plus! Here's what I was working with:

Meat: Prime packer 14.5 pounds untrimmed. Dry brine 36 hours before. Pepper on the night before.
Cooker: WSM 18.5 with CyberQ set to 250 degrees.
Wood: 3 chunks of oak and 3 chucks of hickory.
Charcoal setup: Soo's donut with the wood pretty close to the middle.
Water pan: 1.5 gallons of water

The brisket went on at 5:30 in the morning, and came off unwrapped at probe tender at 4:30 pm when it hit 199 degrees. Then it was in a faux cambro until 7:45 when I sliced and served. In the cambro, the temp slowly dropped from 199-160 for the first three hours, so then I cut open the foil, and then the temp dropped to 145 pretty quickly.

I didn't wrap the brisket, and I didn't for two reasons. One, I had so much time to cook the thing, if I wrapped it, it would've been done way too early. And two, it didn't get a nice bark until it hit 190.

I didn't check to see if it was probe tender until 199, so I'm guessing it was dry because it was done earlier? Also, I'm thinking that next time I'll put either less water in the pan or no water at all, that way I can get a bark earlier and wrap it.

What do you all think? Here are some very amateur pics of the finished product.

Thanks for everyone's help! Already looking forward to trying again!

[Smoking77]

Also remember you have a prime cut, less fat equals done earlier to IT because more lean will get you to probe tender quicker at least in my expierience from last weekend when i cooked a prime packer for daughter's graduation party. when she hit 195 she went in the faux cambro. Perfect pull on the snap test and everybody raved about it, served in slices not pulled.

Thanks Iron Bulldog, but I'm a little confused. Isn't 195 usually a little low to pull? If you had a prime, shouldn't you have had to pull at a higher temp? Apologies for not understanding.